Ruth Baron, R.N., B.Sc.N., P.H.N.  Nurse Researcher and Project Manager (916) 734-7878 ruth.baron@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu Ruth Baron has been at the Center since 2002. She is a project manager and nurse researcher working in the areas of patient quality indicator validation. Ruth obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as her Public Health Nursing certificate from the University of Toronto . She has been involved in several studies involving nurse abstraction and has worked on collaborative projects with several partners, developing and writing many tools and guidelines for a validation pilot project to improve the quality of patient care in the hospital population. Ruth is working to try and improve outcomes, and identify areas of prevention so that the quality of care can be improved on an ongoing basis.  |
Colleen Cameron  Administrative Assistant III (916) 734-3640 cicameron@ucdavis.edu Colleen Cameron, Admin III, provides support to various projects. Colleen supports administrative and project team meetings, steering committee meetings, and ad hoc committees and ensures the efficient operation of supported projects. |
David Chin  Graduate Student Researcher (916) 734-4793 dlchin@ucdavis.edu David is a first year graduate student in the Graduate Group in Epidemiology with research interests in quality of health care, iatrogenesis prevention, injury epidemiology in the hospital setting, and healthcare access by underrepresented populations. He will be working on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Quality Indicators and the Emergency Preparedness Management projects with Dr. Patrick Romano. David holds undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Santa Cruz. His prior experience includes laboratory work at Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh. |
Carolyn Coleman  Financial Manager (916) 734-4082 cmcoleman@ucdavis.edu Carolyn serves as the Center’s Financial Analyst. She is responsible for providing comprehensive financial oversight and support for the Center in the areas of fiscal management, expenditure control, compliance, and contract and grant administration. Carolyn has a BS in Business Administration-Finance from CSUS. |
Dionne Evans Dean, B.S., M.H.A.  Project Coordinator (916) 734-5766 dmevans@ucdavis.edu Dionne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in neurobiology, physiology and behavior from UC Davis and is currently working on an Master of Health Administration from the University of Southern California. She serves as the project coordinator for the Cancer Health Empowerment for Living without Pain (Ca-HELP) study. In this capacity she is involved with the recruitment of individuals experiencing cancer related pain at three local health care systems: the UCD Davis Cancer Center, Kaiser Permanente, and the Veterans Administration at Mather. She is also involved in the training and monitoring of lay health educators from the Sacramento community who meet with Ca-HELP study participants educating them on pain management as well as the importance of communicating with their doctor about pain. Dionne is in the process of completing her Masters in Health Administration through the University of Southern California, Sacramento campus. |
Teresa Farley, B.A.  Management Services Officer (916) 734-4665 tlfarley@ucdavis.edu Teresa joined the center in 2004 and brings over 16 years of project and operations management. She currently serves as the Center Management Service Officer providing leadership for the center, managing various research projects and the center daily operations. Teresa holds a bachelors of Arts in Child Development with a minor in Spanish and is currently working on her Masters of Science in Counselor Education at CSUS. Her current research interests include Health Care Quality, Nurse to Patient Ratios and Decision Making about Hormonal Therapy for Breast Cancer Survivors. Teresa is especially interested in community based research, working in collaboration with a variety of providers, community partners and schools to reach underserved and marginalized populations including non-native English speakers. She is bilingual, reading, writing and speaking Spanish fluently. |
Suzy Hale  Financial / Admin Assistant (916) 734-2818 suzette.hale@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu Suzy is a UC Davis veteran, bringing over 23 years of UC Davis and UC Davis Health System experience to her Center role as Financial and Administrative Assistant. |
Julie Rainwater, Ph. D. Research Sociologist in General Medicine (916) 734-2827 jarainwater@ucdavis.edu Research Interests: Use of information on quality of care in a rapidly changing health care environment; consumer access to quality information; role of media in disseminating quality of care information to consumers. |
Dominique Ritley, M.P.H.  Research Analyst (916) 734-2681 dritley@ucdavis.edu Dominique Ritley joined the Center as a research analyst in 2006. Her experience in health policy is most recently applied to a project with the California Department of Managed Health Care, Office of Patient Advocate to evaluate and recommend new measures for inclusion in California's Healthcare Quality Report Card. She also participated in the California Health Benefits Review Program providing medical effectiveness and public health analysis of California legislation impacting health benefits. Dominique received her MPH in public health policy and administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. |
Banafsheh Sadeghi Postdoctoral Scholar (916) 734-7876 bsadeghi@ucdavis.edu |
Naomi Saito  Clinical Research Statistician/Programmer (916) 734-7876 nhsaito@ucdavis.edu Naomi joined the center in 2008 as a graduate student researcher. After completing the MS program in Biostatistics at UC Davis in December 2008, she has continued working for the Center as a Clinical Research Statistician/Programmer for various projects. She has also worked as a Clinical Nurse in inpatient units at UC Davis Medical Center in the past. |
Christina Slee, M. P. H.  Staff Research Associate (916) 734-8548 cakuenneth@ucdavis.edu Christina Slee, MPH, graduated in 1995 from the University of Michigan with an MPH in health policy and administration. Prior to joining the UC Davis Center for Health Services Research, she conducted secondary analyses of vital records data at the Medical University of South Carolina to identify risk factors for preterm delivery and track outcomes of the regionalization of perinatal care in the state of South Carolina. She was hired as a research associate in the UC Davis telemedicine and rural health program in 1997. In 2001, she moved to the Center for Health Services Research to work on several statewide evaluations of HIV risk reduction programs funded by the State Office of AIDS. Since then, she has served as principal analyst and project manager of a cost effectiveness analysis of the use of tamoxifen for breast cancer chemoprevention, a cost effectiveness analysis of surveillance strategies for women who have been treated for CIN, a patient coaching intervention to improve cancer pain control, and outcomes tracking for women at risk for cardiovascular disease. She co-teaches a cost effectiveness analysis workshop in the K30 program with Joy Melnikow. She holds a BA in English and a BSJ in journalism from the University of Kansas. |
Laura Bates Sterner |
Daniel J. Tancredi, Ph. D.  Assistant Professor (In Residence) of Pediatrics (916) 734-3293 djtancredi@ucdavis.edu Daniel Tancredi joined the Center in 2002, after gaining extensive experience in the design, implementation and analysis of health services and epidemiological research at Rush University Medical Center. Formally trained as a mathematical statistician at the University of Illinois at Chicago, his research interests include effective study designs and analysis plans for observational and experimental studies. He has particular interest in the analysis of correlated data, as arise in clinic-randomized trials, settings with repeated measurements and surveys that use complex probability sampling techniques. In 2007 Daniel Tancredi accepted a faculty appointment in the UC Davis School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. A large part of his new role continues to be collaboration with investigators at the Center, where his faculty office is located. |
Benjamin Timmons  Information Systems (916) 734-7413 bwtimmons@ucdavis.edu Ben has worked in Academic Technology Support since 1991. Since 1998, he has focused on providing support for a number of research projects, some with national scope. Ben works with research investigators and staff to devise systems and resources to meet the qualitative and quantitative needs of each project. Prior to joining UC Davis in 2000, Ben worked at Boston College focusing on academic support and two national community healthcare research projects. Before that Ben worked at Simmons College, where he helped to form the Microcomputer Support Center and implement PC-based educational technology as well as the first PC-based network on campus. |
Guibo Xing, Ph. D.  Statistician (916) 734-6895 gbxing@ucdavis.edu Guibo joined the Center as a statistician in March 2003. He has been providing statistical support primarily to faculties, fellows and residents from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has used his statistical skills of survival analysis and categorical data analysis on various research projects, including Association of Cancer Risks with Obstetrical Delivery, Trauma during Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcome, and Trends of Hysterectomy Incidence, Type, and Complications. Databases that he uses for those studies include OSHPD hospital discharge data, infant birth and death certificates, and California Cancer Registry data. He also had experience doing econometric analysis using models such as time-series models, panel data models, count data models, selection models, hurdle models and two-part models. |
Pat Zrelak, Ph.D., C.N.R.N., C.N.A.A., B.C.  Administrative Nurse Researcher (916) 734-8931 pazrelak@ucdavis.edu Pat joined the center in 2006. She currently works on the Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) Project sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Pat holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UC Davis as well as a MS in Health Science and BS in Nursing. She has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, primarily in management and education. Pat is board certified in Advanced Nursing Administration (CNNA, BC) and is a Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse (CNRN). Other research interests include stroke and dementia. Besides working at UC Davis, Pat holds a faculty position at Samuel Merritt College where she teaches several courses including Research Methods and Biostatistics & Epidemiology. |
